Partners
by Traw
Summary: "We are getting out of this, Danno, together!" Steve was not going to leave his partner behind.


Danny grabbed the dash, trying to maintain his balance as the car slid around another blind corner. He ducked instinctively as Hughes leaned out of the fleeing car's passenger window and fired a volley of deadly shots at them. Drawing his own gun, he leaned out of the car window to return fire.

The car lurched as Hughes' aim found its mark, exploding the front tire and sending them into an uncontrollable spin. He was aware of Steve's desperate struggle to control the deadly slide but the thick mud gave no tread for the car's wheels to grip and the car spun wildly sideways. His awareness fled - pain exploding through his head as the passenger side of the car bounced off a tree and careened off the road into the thick undergrowth. Its occupants tossed around inside like rag dolls.

An eerie silence blanketed the surrounding rainforest for several minutes before the chatter of frightened birds filled the void.

Slowly opening his eyes, Steve remained still as he assessed himself for any injuries from the terrifying sojourn down the mountainside. His head hurt, the world tilted and spun wildly around him. Swallowing hard against the rising nausea, he carefully lifted his hand, fingering the large lump above his left eye. He could feel various aches and pains throughout his body but the intense, grating pain in his right arm when he attempted to move it told him he had not escaped without any broken bones. Drawing in a shuddering breath to override the pain, he straightened up and looked around.

The car had come to rest against a large tree that had stopped its plunge down the steep forested embankment. The ferns and underbrush cast the car into a twilight aura. The windshield in front of him had shattered and he peered, still a little dazed, through the spider web of cracked glass at the crumbled front of the car. A cold breeze, wet with light rain blew through the crumbled remains of his door, torn open by the impact.

Remembering the reason for their predicament, Steve quickly turned towards the passenger side, groaning at the pain the sudden movement caused. Danny was slumped motionless against the door; his legs pinned by the dash, blood trickled down the side of his face from a cut that ran along his hairline.

Staring at the still body, Steve lifted a trembling hand, almost afraid to touch his friend, afraid to confirm his worse fear. A soft moan and the slight fluttering of eyelids reassured the anxious man that his partner had also survived. Ignoring the pain, he raised his left arm and grabbed Dan's shoulder, shaking it firmly, "Danny?"

Blues eyes blinked slowly in response as Danny groaned and slowly lifted his head, looking around in confusion. "Wh…what? Wh … where?"

"Hey Buddy, stay still. Try not to move." Steve commanded softly as he rested his hand firmly on Danny's arm in an attempt from preventing him from moving. "We had an accident."

"Accident?" Danny frowned in confusion he turned his head slowly to look at his boss. "You okay?"

Fearful of just how serious Danny's head injury might be, Steve studied him closely as he answered, "I'm okay, just a bump on my head and I hurt my arm.. I'm more worried about you! Where are you hurt?"

Danny closed his eyes as he tried to assess himself before he slowly answered. "My legs really hurt, so does my head and right side." Opening his eyes, he added softly, "My vision is kinda blurry."

"I think you might have a concussion. Your legs are trapped under the dash. Can you move them at all?"

Danny moaned in pain as he tried to free himself and weakly shook his head. "They are stuck tight. I think I'll need to be cut free." Drawing a deep breath in an attempt to clear his head and take his mind from his pain, he asked, "We were chasing Hughes and Murphy, right?"

McGarrett nodded, "Right, Murphy shot out our front tire. I lost control of the car."

"Only..only because...you were driving like we were on some damn racetrack ... A wet, slippery, muddy racetrack surrounded by trees that hid sheer drops." Danny complained weakly as he tried to remember the full details of how they came to be sitting down the embankment in a crashed car. "Did Murphy and Hughes get away?"

"I hope so. If they decide to finish us off we are sitting ducks in this car!" Steve admitted grimly.

Danny nodded, biting back the groan of pain that threatened to escape from his lips.

Both men fell silent a moment before the sound of a car driving slowly along the road above them filtered through the underbrush. Listening intently, they heard the engine stop before the sound of car doors slamming shut and the distinct voices of the two criminals arguing about where their car had gone off the edge echoed down the embankment.

Aware of the danger that they both faced if found trapped and injured in the car, Steve turned quickly to his partner. "Danny, we have to get of here. I'm going to try and get you free."

"You can't, Steve, there isn't time. I'm trapped too tightly under the dash." Danny groaned, swallowing back a moan as Steve tried to free his legs. He could hear Hughes call to Murphy that the car was just ahead. "You have to go! You have to get out of here...Now! Before they come. I'll try and hold them off as long as I can, give you a chance to get away!" He promised, fumbling weakly for his gun in its holster. He groaned in pain and frustration as Steve shook his head and grabbed his arm. Struggling free, he fell back against the door. "Damn it, Steve, don't be a hero! Go while you still have the chance. If you stay with me, you're a dead man too!"

"NO! NO WAY!" Steve's shocked and angry hiss through clenched teeth stopped any further argument as he grabbed the injured detective with his good arm, ignoring Danny's frantic attempts to push him away.

Feeling his partner reach for him again, Danny weakly shoved him towards the open door as he pleaded, "Please, Steve, go! And please tell Gracie..."

"No, I'm not going to tell Gracie 'Danno loves her'." Steve growled as he raised his foot against the dash, pushing with all his weight as he pulled his friend towards him, his chest tightening in anguish as he forced himself to ignore the cries of agony that escaped Danny's lips. "Because you are when you see her. We are getting out of this, Danny, together! There's no way I am going to leave you!" Steve felt the dash move away from the trapped man as Danny screamed in pain and slipped free, collapsing insensibly against his chest.

Hearing the excited voices and crashing undergrowth noises drawing closer to their position, he grabbed Dan's now limp body and with the last of his strength quickly threw them both out of the open driver's door and into the undergrowth, biting hard on his bottom lip in an attempt to stifle his own cry of agony as his injured arm slammed heavily onto the ground, sending fiery bolts of agony through his shoulder and chest. He frantically blinked his eyes trying to will away the darkness that offered him a blessed relief from his pain.

Dragging Danny to the safety of the underbrush, he drew his gun awkwardly with his left hand, watching as the two men approach the car. He watched them check the vehicle before they began to curse loudly and turned their attention to the surrounding forest. Steve released his breath as the sound of approaching sirens echoed through the thick rainforest and they turned and began to scramble up the slope towards the car parked on the wet muddy road somewhere above.

Dropping his head onto his unconscious partner's shoulder, he released a tired breath, "We're partners, Danno, I would never leave you behind." He whispered as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into the comforting, pain free darkness as he listened tiredly to the sound of Kono's and Chin's shouts coming closer to where they hid.

PAU


End file.
